Collecting The Precious - Weta Workshop's The Fellowship of the Ring Set 1

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"You shall be The Fellowship of the Ring.”

-Elrond to the Fellowship at the Council of Elrond

Of the many things at Comic-Con 2012 Weta had three items that fans like myself had been waiting years to finally see. That amazing scene of The Fellowship cresting the hill has been long called for by fans to be turned into a collectible. Well, in June of this year the long wait for something representing this was over. Weta Workshop announced a three part set capturing this long awaited moment and set one has arrived. On the heels of set two going up for order its time to review set one.

PACKAGING

Graphically the box for set one is similar to what we’ve seen before with past items from Weta. The Lord of the Rings logo appears once again on the front of the box with a great group shot of The Fellowship as they make their trek across Middle-earth. In the center of the box you have a great picture of the piece number one of this set. On one side of the box you get a great picture of set one while the other contains multiple great images of items that you can find on Weta’s website. The back of the box has one final image of set one a nice story about this piece and what it took to bring it to life.

SCULPTING

A team of Weta artists was tasked with finally bringing one of the most demanded pieces to our collections. Based on how the pieces looked at Comic-Con and how set one came out in production they did a great job. One of the biggest challenges in a piece this size is the likenesses. The team at Weta was successful in making sure that each character in set one, which contains Gandalf the Grey, Frodo, and Legolas bears close resemblance to the actors that played them. Detail-wise, this piece is as good as anything you will find. Hair detail on Gandalf, Legolas, and Frodo is there and you even get individual hairs, you get great detail in Sting’s hilt, Glamdring’s hilt, Gandalf’s staff (even has the G-rune), and the detail in Legolas alone is really very good when you look at the size of these statues. The clothing of each character is not without detail either as each outfit is done successfully so that their outfits look like cloth. Finally, the base is as good as anything with its great rock, grass, and even detail in the dirt.

PAINT

As hard as it would be to sculpt a piece of this size the biggest character is only 5.5 inches tall would be to make sure the paint works with the sculpts. Well, Weta did not miss anything with this piece and it really helps set this piece at the highest level a collector could want. Skin tone on the three characters is on par with a statue two or three times the size. Another possible issue with a statue of this size is how the little details can be covered and that does not happen with this statue. As I said the hair, details in things like Sting, Legolas outfit, etc are all enhanced by the paintwork on this statue. The base is even brought to life and feels real with the sculpt and paint working together. Simply put, it's a fantastic piece and the paint/sculpt work hand-in-hand to create something special

Overall

Set one costs $199 via Weta’s web site as does set two, which is up for Pre-Order now. As I said at the start of this little review this is something I know many of us have been waiting years for so now is the time to jump on these items before they vanish. I know for me personally this is something I’ve dreamt of owning for years and to finally have it coming to the collection piece-by-piece is simply fantastic. In other words this a must have item I think for any fan of Middle-earth!